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Topic: Overview: Clan Brujah (Read 1955 times)

UNLIFE AMONG THE BRUJAHOne might suspect that a clan like the Brujah has a few traditions, that its members are too diverse to share any common ground. To some extend this is true - the Brujah are rebels above all else; what strikes one as a universal truth may seem like blasphemy to another. Certainly, the clan is one of the most disorganized and informal families of Caine's childer, but that doesn't automatically alienate them from one another.

Brujah often gather in brood of like-minded individuals. In many cities, the majority of local Brujah descend from the same site. A noted primogen may sire every Brujah in the city and defend this as her right; a powerful elder may be the grandsire of multiple nests of Brujah in a given domain. Or, quite the opposite, a city may have a cosmopolitan Rabble from a variety of sires and locations.

Despite the Curse of Caine, Brujah tend to be social creatures, which explains their congregations. Young Kindred often find safety in numbers, while elders cling to their dwindling humanity by surrounding themselves with progeny. Even dissolute anarchs have common cause against which they rally, though methods may differ among various gangs, cults, fronts and leagues.

One common characteristics shared by the Brujah is their close tie to the mortal world. While other Kindred interact with mortals through institutions (like the Ventrue or the Toreador), the Brujah deal most often with individual mortals. A single Brujah may very well have contacts on the police force, comrades in the drug underworld, secret agents in the press and compatriots who are members of urban gangs. Some Kindred joke that while a Toreador might be able to get you on the guest list, only a Brujah can get you through the door.

Indeed, the Kindred may have none among them closer to the mortal world than the Brujah. While the Ventrue busy themselves with banks and investment firms, and the Toreador disdain the common elements of humanity, the Brujah place themselves right in the middle (of course, they do so almost universally for the purpose of rebelling against the establishment). One needs to look no further than the closet in a Brujah's haven to know the impact mortals have on their unlives.

Rabble follow cutting-edge trends and remain just ahead ofo the curve. After all, once everyone's wearing a certain style of clothing or listening to a specific kind of music, it's no longer trend setting but trend following; few Brujah want to be part of that sort of thing. Still, some Brujah break this mold, settling into countercultures that forever remain on the periphery of the cultural radar. Some Brujah place themselves among skinheads, goths, bikers, and hackers whom society will never openly welcome, despite the fact that their t rue period of novelty has long passed. In many cases, this indicates the static nature of undeath — upon receiving the Embrace, vampires become "locked in time," forever preserved with the image, culture and ideals they held at that time. This stasis perpetuates the inherent fractiousness of the clan — elders Embraced millennia ago , who still support the concepts considered rebellious at that time, are bound to clash with younger Kindred, whose concept of, say, democracy differs radically from the classical Athenian's.

In practice, however, none of this means a thing. No assessment of the clan as an entity can prepare someone to understand the Brujah. They are a clan of individuals, bound by only the traditions they choose to accept.

IDEALISM AND ICONOCLASM (From the Notebook of Horace Kaplan)I've heard these terms tossed around frequently — it seems that every clan has its own little internal subdivisions and conflicting ideologies, and some pedant feels like he has to step in and Codify All Concepts for the Edification of Knowledge. Somewhere down the line, someone convinced a few verbose Brujah that a formal distinction was necessary. Well, as far as I can tell this had one of two effects on your average Brujah: fuck all or whole cloth acceptance.

The Brujah who accept the incontrovertible classification of the clan tend to be either conservative intellectuals or liberal firebrands. These intellectuals like to play and debate such neat categories — put a sociologist Brujah in a room with a Brujah eugenicist and watch them beat the topic into the ground sometime. Or don't put them in a room and read Dr. Ophelia Gaines's A Conversation With Carlyle, which is practically a transcript of that sort of thing. The liberals who support the formal distinction do it to perpetuate their "class struggle" arguments. At one Rant, they scream about the anachronism of princes and the fundamental egalitarianism of the Kindred race while in another they wax polemic about the schism that prevents the Brujah from uniting against the common enemy. (Who this enemy is varies by Brujah. It's the same failing to account for individuality that underpins all liberalism.)

On the other side of the coin, you have Kindred like me, who think that dividing the clan into arbitrary teams is bullshit. I'm in the camp with the progressive intellectuals who know that unifying social theory is a crock, and with the more reactionary rabble-rousers, who gladly accept anyone who supports the latest cause they've adopted. Rounding out the group that doesn't believe in rigid striation are Brujah who just don't care about politics and simply want to kick a little ass. Then again, if you tell them that their "enemy" is philosophically different from them, they'll climb over their own dead mothers to take a shot at the guy.

Here's the truth, are you ready? — we're all exactly as individual or as assimilated as we each want to be. That's one of the things I hate about this century pop culture drivel pretending to be legitimate social science. It seems that the modern kine need validation for their feelings of superiority or rationale for their self-hatred. Young Kindred follow this trend all too blindly. Me, I'd prefer a good old-fashioned argument about noble savagery any night of the week, but regrettably, Rousseau is not among the Damned.

Listen to me! How typical of a Brujah.. I've let my feelings on the matter divert me from the issue at hand. Too caught up in my own rhetoric, don't you know. No wonder we're so fractious. Back to the pigeonholes: In a nutshell, the icionoclasts are you bomb-hurling anarchist types while the idealists are the brooding subversives.

ICONOCLASTSIn the modern nights, most Brujah, probably fall into the iconoclast archetype, or at least they have over the past few decades. Social upheaval has long been a feature of the human condition -- what is history but a collection of problems and people's resolutions of them? All Kindred were human at some point. To simplify the concept, iconoclasts are the most rebellious Brujah, quick to rally to any cause that espouses change. Many join anarch factions, hoping to bring Kindred social conventions up to date. They tend to be young, vigorous, and shortsighted -- agitated iconoclasts happily incite riots, heedless of the fact that their own havens might be destroyed.

The sociologist in me finds the concept of iconoclasm endlessly fascinating. Are these idol smashes the same unwavering members of the Camarilla, upholders of the Path of Humanity, those in touch with the voices of the streets? Now, when I say that, they're staunch supporters of the Camarilla, I don't mean that they're out there with campaign buttons, waving "Camarilla!" pennants at some sect football game. No, I mean that on some level, they realize that they need the Camarilla. It is the institution against which they rage; it is the order into which they try to impose their own brand of change. Without the Camarilla, what would the iconoclasts rebel against?

Like I said, fascinating, in a self-destructive sort of way. A colleague of mine, the venerable Critias (who is more of a mentor than an associate) maintains that of all Kindred, the Brujah are the most in touch with their conscience. The ranks of the Brujah include some of the most violent, angry and rebellious Kindred in the world. Among them we find drug lords, gangsters, corrupt officials, hardened streetwalker and depraved prophets of rumult. On the other side of the coin, the clan includes priests, teachers, writers, artists, poets and performers. What's the common thread? What could possibly serve to unite the most liberal of political activists with a vicious skinhead?

The answer is humanity. I mean that in the abstract -- the concept of humanitas, the bulwark against the Beast. Every Brujah knows that to lose the Beast is to fall into a degenerate state from which no Kindred returns. We know this all too well, given our progenitor's proclivity for frenzy, a proclivity that each of us beats to this night. Deep inside every Brujah's heart, he believes he is right -- unassailable so. The skinhead truly believes in his dogma of purity. The activist fully upholds a code of equality and compassion.

This is why the iconoclasts rage so fiercely. As their ranks are populated predominantly by young Cainities, their ideologies often lack the maturity of those held by elders. They make up for this with the strength of their conviction. I don't say this to disparage them; the young Kindred are capable of mustering an enthusiasm that evades the clan's elders. They simply haven't had the decades or centuries to explore the issues that truly matter to them. That's another one of the not-so-gentle ironies that afflict the Brujah. The young ones are the most capable of still caring. The ancillae and elders most often settle under the ennui of the years it takes more to rouse them to the heights of passion. And on that note..

IDEALISTS

Ostensibly, the idealists are the more analytical or intellectual Brujah, those who study the past for guidance and rationally consider their best course of action. That sounds like a loaded wording to me, and I suspect that, based on how superior it sounds, a self-avowed "idealist" first codified the distinction.

The idealist camp seems comprised mainly of elders and ancillae -- those who have had the time to grow past the rambunctious hell-on-wheels stage most neonates go through. These aren't anarchs (or if they are, they're more involved with the ideology than with the firsthand assault on the bastions of undead society). No, they're seasoned Kindred, those with some stake in their cities' political structures, sophisticates, and presumably anyone in the clan who prefers to discuss an idea rather than throw a trash can through someone's window. Not that idealists are above violence, but they don't necessarily want to get their hands dirty. You can often find an idealist by asking an anarch or iconoclast who the city's biggest sellouts are.

Some idealists have been around so long they can remember our fabled Carthage. My aforementioned mentor Critias claims to have once made his haven there and alludes to his sire having done the same. The exemplars of the idealist model refer to Carthage as the proof that Brujah can unite toward obtainable goals. Naturally, self-styled iconoclasts refuse this sort of "manipulation by the elders," seeing it as yet another example of old vampires trying to usurp the rights of the young. And so on the Jyhad continues.

Idealism is as much a behavior-based distinction as iconoclasm. Brujah primogen, for example, often embody the idealistic spirit. They want to know al lthe facts and analyze a situation before deciding how best to change it. Yes, change -- the desire to build and improve still lies close to their unbeating hearts, despite the different methods they use to achieve it. I hope I haven't implied that they're emotionless and empty; your elder Brujah is just as capable of a blood-rage resulting from a perceived slight as a hotheaded neonate, except that he can cause a lot more damage in the process. The real difference: the idealist knows that he's doing what's right, while an iconoclast feels it.

The whole matter is largely subjective -- I should undoubtedly present an example. Jeremy MacNeil, a popular anarch leader from the Anarch Free State of California (which I still recognize in spite of the problems it has faced recently), is a dyed-in-the-wool revolutionary, having witnessed several Scottish independence skirmishes, the American Civil War. Look for trouble and you'll find MacNeil. He's potent enough to wade into the midst of battle and emerge with a score of severed heads. MacNeil, however, takes a rational approach. He knows that the best way to cripple an enemy is to target its leader. To this end, he has argued the anarchs' case not only in the streets of the free state but also in Elysium. He knows that a mindless street war with California's invading Cathayan menance only serves to cripple a few of the soldiers, so he instead pursues diplomacy, negotiating with the Cathyan leaders and working out accords that let both sides exist in mutual comfort.

By the way of counterexample, I suggest you no further than Smiling Jack, a.k.a Calico Jack Rackham, a.k.a Jack Hopper , a.k.a (in at least one episode) Malk Content. An anarch of "let's blow things up" stripe, Jack's indulges his malice for its own sake. Smiling Jack doesn't care who he's feuding with, as long as it's someone -- he's fought on both sides of the rivalry between Prince Tara of San Diego and the self-styled "Prince" of El Cajon, Shay. He's sabotaged gangs of other anarchs. He's burned down Sabbat havens and Camarilla soirees alike, all in the interests of causing grief to "the powers that be." The end result? Anarchs and Brujah respect MacNeil, but they like Smiling Jack. Almost everyone else hates them both, but not because they're iconoclasts or idealists or even Brujah, but because they wanted to change the way things work.

INDIVIDUALISTSIn my decades of discussion with other Brujah, I have at times encountered a third distinction of the Brujah temperament. A few members of the clan have referred to the "individualists" who seem to exist somewhere between the poles of iconoclasm and idealism. Again, this smacks of artifice -- by what grand and cosmic scale are we to weigh our principles? -- but some Kindred find security in applications.

Near as I can tell, the individualist espouses change and works for the go od of the many ("the many" having different defintions to the different individualists) but requires no adherence to her plans. She's not a demanding elder, insisting that her fellows follow her agenda, but neither is she an anarchistic dervish. She simply chooses her course, and anyone else is welcome to come along, should they so wish.

To be fair, this seems to be a simple personality trait rather than a political stance. The term seems to refer to the denotative nonconformist -- the moment you care about whether someone follows you, you become an idealist. Like I said, it seems to be convenient to label people, but I know of no one who claims to be an individualist. Perhaps they are ahead of their time. Or maybe I'm right and it's all so much nonsense.

RANTS AND RAVESBrujah gatherings either suggest or utterly defy the stereotype other Kindred havae of us. Assuming some outside Kindred hears that we have assemblies, her response generally betrays shock ("I didn't know you Brujah organized to do anything.") or dismissal ("Do they hand out the biker jacketts at the door?"). In my experience, I've found the former to be mostly true -- any time the Brujah gather, the whole thing is to bound to have some air of incredulity. It's because we're so generally disorganized and leave each other to our own devices. Brujah meetings, often called rants, tend to have loose agendas, but when things come to order they can be quite formal, depending upon whom attends. Parties thrown by Brujah, also known as raves, most frequently follow a rant or precede one. Brujah seem to have the best luck staging their raves after the rants -- if you throw a party before your organized convocation, it's quite possible that things may never calm down enough for everyone to get down to business.

In both cases, matters are generally pretty open-ended. I've seen Kindred who oI know belong to different clans at both rants and raves, and no one seemed to care. It's not like we're some juggernaut that plans to secretly mobilize against the world. No, rants tend to reflect more local interest while raves, in my honest opinion, need a little out-of-clan presence to be interesting. If nothing else, you can gather a few of your bullyboys and kick the shit out of some snotty Toreador who thinks she's slumming.

Between the two different gatherings, some common principles apply. It seems that anyone can call a rant or throw a rave; the only difficulty is making sure that people attend. Isn't that the case with any meeting or party? And whoever organizes the thing had better make sure all his ducks have lined up in a row. After all, if the rant attract some big-shot-elder from Milan or Barcelona, he's going to be one angry Lick if the police bumrush the meeting four minutes into his pettirade. Smart Kindred also provide for their guests tastes at rants and raves -- hungry Brujah don't pay attention very well, and most aren't averse to a little sloppy feeding as long as it takes place in someone else's backyard.

RANTSRants tend to be held either by elder Brujah or young ones trying to make names for themselves. That's simply their most common incarnation, though -- of late, anarchs and other Brujah rowdies have learned that the rant is a perfectly viewable venue for expression and not just a symposium of sellouts. You may have even see the aftermath of one; check your local newspaper for any demonstrations that resulted in riots. While you're at it, marvel at the reporter's ability to not mention cars overturned solitary protesters or to dismiss one's rioter's dispatching of four police officers as "a drug frenzy." The Masquerade is a beautiful thing. I've attended probably a hundred or so of the things, but I travel a good deal. Your average city may not even have one each year -- it depends completely on the disposition of the local Brujah. A few members of the clan have distinguished themselves by hosting annual rants or gala debates every decade or so, but these are the exception rather than the rule. I know that Justicar Pascek had a premier rant that took place on the winter solstice every year in Prague, but that was attended mostly by Eastern European Brujah. Something similar happens in Texas around the time of each year's Burning Man festival (I suppose so those attending Burning Man can drop by the rant before or after). And I have no doubt that every cell of Bruujah anarchs in the crumbling free state observes their own signature event, which other anarch gangs attend as long as the hosts promise to attend theirs.

Ostensibly, rants have some issue at their core; you don't throw a rant without having something to, well, rant about. In this sense, "rant" is sometimes a misleading word. Conclaves of elders and ancillae often manage to keep their emotions in check long enough to await their turn in the spotlight. In some cases, though, you end up with those situations you sometimes see in those Japanese goverment meetings on C-SPAN; a room full of tastefully dressed officials who suddenly begin brawling and hurling chairs at each other. It happens.

Particularly agitated ancillae and neonates probably gave the rant its appellation, and the name reflects these two groups' typical behavior. They have a tendency to get carried away, either with their own pet issue or the incendiary presentations of their fellows. Some nihilistic Brujah even attend rants just to disrupt them, or perhaps find a thrilling fight in which to participate. In cases like these, I wish the clan wasn't so egalitarian -- like representatives democracy, not every Brujah should attend these sorts of things. Not everyone has something constructive to say. Some Kindred just want to yank others' chains.

Still, rant hosts typically prefer to keep things informal. Most rants are arranged around a stage or assembly-hall model in which the audience faces the speaker. Anyone is welcome to speak. Of course, the proceedings tend to be overshadowed by long-winded elders or filibustering firebrands, but as long as you can bully your way to the head of the crowd, you can have your shot at the podium. I remember one rant held in Italy, just after World War II officially concluded, at which some Brujah socialist waxed at length about the utopian opportunity offered by Mussolini's death and why the locals should use their influence to cultivate atheistic communes around the countryside. This went on for more than 45 minutes before some ill-tempered anarchists awaiting their turn had heard enough and literally bombed the socialist off the stage. Their actions met with applause, even though their ensuing diatribe didn't.

The central purpose of the rant can take many forms. Most rants involve some vaguely important Kindred issue, but we afford them equal gravity when they're ceremonies commemorating memorable events of figures, like Martin Luther Kings, Jr affair held every February in Alabama. I've even been to a few that didn't explicitly state their focus beforehand, and the rant opened with whatever issue made it to the floor first.

POLICY RANTSThe loose structure inherent to Clan Brujah makes any attempt at a universal statement of doctrine impossible. Still, that doesn't mean local Brujah can't band together to serve a mutual purpose, at least temporarily. Policy rants serve to galvanize Brujah toward common causes. For example, back in the 9th century sometime (I don't recall exactly, because sI wasn't there, but this is one of those Brujah legends that "one of my sire's associates" always observed), Prince Mithras of London was apparently trying to tip the balance of power in London primogen by maintaining two Ventrue primogen. Two weeks before the formal appointment, the London Brujah gathered and decided that Mithras' intent was pretty much bullshit. One week later, they made a grandiose proclamation that they would physically beat to Final Death any Kindred who claimed the second title of Ventrue primogen; Naturally, Mithras could have demolished any of the Brujah, but none of the Kindred wanted the London Brujah calmoring for his blood, so the secondary position went unfilled. Score one for the system of check sand balances, courtesy of Clan Brujah.

DEBATESAlmost the exclusive purview of elders and intellectuals (because the more rambunctious elements find them terribly boring), debates involve the argument of an issue for its own sake. Although they may lead to a policy rant afterward, the argument itself comprises the crux of a debate rant. In a debate, the attending Brujah decide which side of the rant's given issue they support. Each side then makes its case, examining or cross-examining as the participants see fit. Of the debates I've seen, I can't tell whether they're supposed to be moderated or not -- sometimes a moderator serves to keep the debate on topic while at others, the gathered Brujah simply take it on good faith that they won't deviate from the issue at hand. Sometimes, they manage to stay on target. The debates goes on until one side convinces the moderator (or, less frequently, the other side) that it is right, which may take nights or even weeks.

Now because these are elders we're talking about (for the most part, at least), debates rarely degenerate into violence. I've found it more likely for a participant to walk away with a new rival in the ever-unfolding Jyhad than a broken collarbone. Still, the exception proves the rule, and more than one impassioned anarch has found himself shattered over an elder's knee cross-examination.

For the reader's reference. I include this bit of transcript from a debate I attended in 1992. Note the attention to detail the speaker (Rudolph of Melik, a liberal French elder) maintains in his argument. I can recall this only because I had it written down; the assembled vampires at a debate tend not to write things down, lest they leave proof of their positions -- or even their existence.

Quote

I would like to argue against the 32nd subissue of the 10th point that Critias raised on the third night of the current debate by stating that the issue is in fact negative, rendering the 12, 15th and 17th subissues irrelevant as well.

That's right -- Rudolph remembered Critias' specific points over a series of nights as well as each of the subissues contained therein. Upon cross-examination, Critias likewise refutred several of Rudolph's minor conjectures with similar attention to minutiae. Debates are no mere shouting matches, but rather elaborately constructed considerations of the issue from every angle. Although we Brujah might be excitable, we express our passions in different ways.[/i]

RALLY RANTSEvery now and then, after local members of the clan have united for some common goal, a Brujah calls a rally rant. These are generally straightforward affairs, used to psyche up the Brujah before turning them loose upon whatever has demanded their attention. Rally rants often turn violent, resulting in property damage and civil unrest like the rant the Atlanta Brujah held in condemned Omni arena before their doomed stand against the Sabbat in 1999. Let the host beware -- whipping a gang of angry Brujah into righteous indignation often takes its tooll on the immediate environment.

SPITE RANTSThe Brujah use these rare and brutal venues to punish Kindred who have committed some transgression, whether against "the clan" (which is a fairly specious conceit -- how do you rebel against rebels?), the brood, or in general for crimes that provide local thugs with an excuse to stomp a Brujah they don't like. In a sense, spite rants are exceptionally nasty prestige rants, though they serve the sole purpose of punishment. In fact, the term is one I've made up; I've never heard a Brujah allude to a spite rant, but that seems to be the most appropriate term. I've only been to two of these -- one was of a street gang-style "gauntlet" beating held by anarchs that resulted in the Final Death of the victim; in the other, the criminal in question stood strial for supposedly revealing the location of a Brujah elder's haven to an Assamite in the Nosferatu primogen's employ. A mob of neonates, seeing the opportunity to fire themselves up about something, roped the offender to a doorway and cracked his ribs with a broad side of a mattock for six hours.

RAVESIn the history of the Brujah, raves developed relatively recently. While I certainly remember having hosted and attended parties in the latter part of the 19th century, none of these were on the scale of the epic debauches that take place in the modern nights. Brujah parties used to be small, private affairs. Maybe a city's Brujah gathered at a coffeehouse, or maybe they all gathered outside the city and howled at the guards on the wall. One of the best proto-raves I've had the pleasure of attending reminded me of sneaking out of my father's house as a child. It was right around the turn of the century and several of us young'uns stole a few horses and rode like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse through the streets of New York City, kicking in windows and bashing deretlicts. What can I say? We were young, foolhardy, and loud, but by the time we laughed it off at the end of the night, three other Brujah had joined our parade of assholes.

I've traced the origins of the word "rave" back approximately ten of fifteen years, and it seems to have come into usage concurrrent with the English all-night dance parties of the same description. That's no surprise; the Kindred have been following coopting mortal trends since, presumably, the establishment of the Masquerade

To describe Brujah raves as anything less than manic parties undertaken with reckless abandon is to do them a disservice. Whether gala affairs or raucous secret garage parties, raves are places where Brujah can convene, put their ideologies behind them and let their hair down. The typical rave offers no end of hedonistic excess -- dancing, thunderous music, drug- and alcohol-addled vessels, kine to flirt with or bully, and perhaps a good-natured brawl to round out the experience.

Raves while open to all Kindred, are without a doubt Brujah affirs. Although most, if not all, local Brujah attend raves in their vicinity, the entertainment reflects an inclination toward the younger Kindred. The music tends to be upbeat and either monotonous or savage. Metal, speed and thrash all have their places at the raves, but equally common ar the urban, rap and Latin styles prevalent in ethnic neighborhoods and inner cities. Most popular, however, is the electronic music played at the parties from which this Brujah custom was adapted. One pair of Brujah promoters operates a perennial mobile rave that has thrown partes in Tel Aviv, Prague, Oslo, Syndey, New York, Sao Paolo, San Francsisco, Athens, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Ibiza, and even Cathyan cities of Tokyo and Hong Kong hiring prominent mortal DJs to whip the partygoers into ecstatic states.

At your average rave, mortals throng the dance floors, filling the air with the tang of blood and sweat. A few young Kindred ever refer to the floors as buffers, from which they take their choice of vessels. Raves aren't simply dance parties, however, though that is how most non-Brujah guests see them. For Brujah Kindred, they are places to meet old friends and rivals without having to worry about open conflict. Not that raves are somehow sacrosanct to the Brujah; we simply understand that not every night needs to be another episode in our endless litany of personal vendettas. Even the Damned need to have a good time every now and then.

The said, raves see their fair share of violence. Brawls between Brujah tend to be affectionate or competitive, as with mortal siblings. It's just a bit of friendly roughhousing, or the odd bit of alpha-Lick assertion. This typically goes over the heads of other Kindred, however, whos either assume the worst and flee or, less conveniently, join in as if unlives were at stake .This usually has the unpleasant result of turning the affair into a real fight, after which the Brujah are likely found shaking their heads and wondering what the hell the other Kindreds' problem is, anyway. On occasion, mortal guests wind up involved in the fray the less said about that, the better.

The distinctly separate topic of non Brujah-violence also deserves some attention. There are simply normal cases -- boote-stoked rowdies coming to blows over perceived slights, gangsters resolving t urf disputes and such, just like at every other nightclub or party.

OTHER DISTINCTIONS OF THE BRUJAH

In certain cases, Brujah blood has deviated from its none-too-humble beginnings. These cases are actual shifts in the makeup of the bloodline, not simple social conventions like I've discussed above. Some of us are hardly "just another Brujah." But God help you if you think like that, anyway.

THE ANTITRIBUI make no claims of being a genealogist. My skills lie in observation, not research. Still, I think it's fair to assume that the Brujah antitribu arose as did many of the other anti-clans, as a result of sire-childe grievances that culminated in the Anarch Revolt and the formation of the Sabbat.

Fine. They became upset, fought with their sires, and left. I'm not going to pretend to exmaine their reasons. I'm more concerned with their practices. As members of the Sabbat, the Brujah antitribu don't typically follow the Traditions as a code. Likewise, cities infested by Sabbat tend to be more violent, which allows Brujah antitribu to indulge their vampiric viciousness more often. They don't have to hide behind facades of social correctness or anti-correctness -- Brujah antitribu make no bones about who they are.

This is precisely what's so sad about them. The Sabbat has effectively eliminated the artificial codes to which vampires adhere under the auspices of the Camarilla. The much-feared Black Hand is nothing so much as a survivalist religious cult; it has torn down walls other Kindred built to protect themselves. Where the Brujah are concerned the result is disappointing. Given the opportunity to become whatever they want, most became simple fiends and thugs. Having turned their backs on the clan that spawned them, they also deny the history and legacy of a clan that once claimed to be the philosopher-warriors of undead society. No, the Sabbat Brujah seem to be content with fulfilling only half of that destiny, and when you call them on it, they pound you to pulp.

Naturally, that's not always the case, just the most common. I've spent half of my essay dismissing stereotypes and the other half reinforcing them -- I hope to leave the impression that the Brujah are half what you see and half what you can't. This isn't as true of the antitribu, however, who seem to be three-fourths what you see and one-fourth sick in the head. Obviously, individuals exist, but the dogma of the Sabbat has undeniably taken a firm hold in the collective psyches of its Brujah.

In the time I spent with a coterie of Sabbat Kindred, the two Brujah among them continually took me aside to whisper that things were going to change in the coming nights. Apparently the Brujah of the Sabbat have made names for themselves among the traditions leaders of the sect, the Tzimisce and the Lasombra. My two proselytizers regaled me with tales of Brujah cunning, crusader masterminded by their kind, significant battles and assassinations undertaken by the Brutes. (as they somewhat meanly call themselves) and lofty positions of responsibility filled by daring antitribu. I believe them, for the most part. To hear them tell it, the Brujah of the Sabbat will soon have a greater voice, recognized as they are for their value by the current leaders o the sect.

Do you see a pattern? Can you find a few, recurrent notes that strike you with their clarity? I do. The single greatest difference between Brujah of the Camarilla and the Sabbat looks to be the fire of rebellion and change. Among the Camarilla, we have almost as many personal causes as we do Brujah. In the Sabbat, however, the Brujah seems to have experienced unity, a focus. The cause of many Sabbat Brujah is the Sabbat itself. At face value, this is neither good nor bad. Actually it's a little of both, which causes the moderation -- yes, it illustrates that the divisive Brujah can, under certain circumstances, strive toward a common goal. On the negative side, the common goal they espouse is the Sabbat, which any right-thinking Kindred immediately understands for the satanic lunacy it is.

The methodology of the bloodline, though, is almost indistinguishable from that of a significant portion of the Camarilla Rabble. In fact the only difference I've been able to observe is the philosophy behind it. I've watched frenzied Brujah tear apart police detectives in the name of the Masquerade. I've seen prince-appointed sheriffs sate their undead thirsts on urban latchkey children, burning the small, bloodless bodies in apartment-building incinerators. I've witnessed recently Embraced neonates from the gang culture rejoin their mortal affiliates with renewed bloodlust, drinking vitae from their fallen rivals. And I've seen the exact same things take place in Sabbat cities. It seems that the fight itself is irrelevant; whether the prince, the Ventrue or the mythical Antediluvians are the enemy, all's fair in Brujah unlife and war. Passion fires the soul, which is what makes it possible for us to rise each night, sect be damned.

THE NON-CONSANGUINEOUS OF TROILEOnce again, I'll spare you the history lesson. A few others wouldn't be so kind, however. According to a small but vocal minority of Brujah, mostly paranoid elders, Brujah himself managed to sire a brood that remained secret from his most noted childe, Troile. Most of us accept the treachery of those Biblical nights as par for the course and take it on faith that we're descended from Troile. As the tale unfolds, the members of this hidden brood have different proclivities than the rest of us Brujah do. Apparently, their original powers influenced the flow of time itself, of which our own supernal speed is a pale and weak reflection. Additionally, we have diametrically opposed temperaments -- apparently, the fiery Brujah Blood is actually a characteristic of Troile, as rumor attributes these "True Brujah" with a detached, dispassionate mien. Pardon me if I seem a bit incredulous. Cainite history is rife with these conspiratorial heresies. Do you really think that a clan of opposite-and-more-potent vampires could exist without someone having some verifiable account of it? Such is not the case. Still, the tales do circulate, always as secondhand accounts at best. My verdict: Until I see one, I'll indulge my right to doubt. We don't need any more bogeymen to distract us.

Like a great man once said "Words build bridges into unexplored regions", I do hope many will read this guide and make a change for the better, that we might experience an era we have never seen before in vwh-rp.

Like a great man once said "Words build bridges into unexplored regions", I do hope many will read this guide and make a change for the better, that we might experience an era we have never seen before in vwh-rp.

Like a Trump once said "I will build a great wall -- and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me --and I'll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words."